Vintage Wood

“If you have never had a garden you cannot understand, and if you have had a garden you will know that it would take a whole book to describe all that came to pass there.” 
We saw a deer yesterday; I think she brought us good luck
Poor thing couldn't find a way out of the maze. I sure hope she found a way to her home.

I miss the trees, the birds, and the wildlife. 

WIP 20 X 14 OVAL

“Perhaps it is the key to the garden!” 

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

A GHOST'S GARDEN @ MIDNIGHT

A GHOST'S GARDEN @ MIDNIGHT

PRINTS AVAILABLE ON ETSY 

ANNABELLE AND M

A Ghost's garden at midnight: unkept, purposely, for a garden planted by human, supernatural, the birds and the bees was the best garden to have. Its wild beauty was unmatched by any other properly maintained garden specimen. Florence loved it that way, and so did his visitors who came.

On hot summer nights, Florence's favorite thing to do was to stroll barefoot in the garden and breathe in the flower's sweet perfume. Every once in a while, clover magically appears between his toes. Florence was amused by how the clover always wanted to dress his feet.

VISITING THE ANCESTORS

 Florence and Bat went on a little trip to Genova, Italy, to visit Florence's family at Cimitero di Staglieno: one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. 

When I was little, my aunt Virgina brought me to a beautiful garden. I remember the air being hot, dry, and infused with the smell of pine. We wandered through a maze of mysterious sculptured figures and monuments so elaborate in intricate detail, so life-like, I was sure the people were alive under the dusty marble facades. We were visiting our ancestors. The garden was a cemetery, and it was gorgeous. Ghosts of the past are here in their final resting place. And what a beautiful place to be in death. Cimitero Monumental di Staglieno; haunting and so beautiful. I was never to forget it. 

Below is an excerpt of what the American writer Mark Twain said after visiting Staglieno :

 “Our last sight was the cemetery (a burial place intended to accommodate 60,000 bodies), and we shall continue to remember it after we shall have forgotten the palaces. It is a vast marble colonnaded corridor extending around a great unoccupied square of ground; its broad floor is marble, and on every slab is an inscription - for every slab covers a corpse. On either side, as one walks down the middle of the passage, are monuments, tombs, and sculptured figures that are exquisitely wrought and are full of grace and beauty. They are new and snowy; every outline is perfect, every feature guiltless of mutilation, flaw, or blemish; and therefore, to us these far-reaching ranks of bewitching forms are a hundred fold more lovely than the damaged and dingy statuary they have saved from the wreck of ancient art and set up in the galleries of Paris for the worship of the world." 

"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see." 

GENOA: Stunning sculptures 🏛️, Monumental Cemetery (Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno)

@batandmaggie @hauntedwalk @rideau_walkingtours @harpercollinsch@ottawabloggers #art #artgallery#ghost #bookstagram #book #booklover #catart #story #instagram #instagood#instadaily #insta #cimiteromonumentale#cimitero#cemetery #halloween #grave #beautiful #haunting

RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM - BLACK CAT PRODUCTIONS 🐾🐾🐾 -

Black Cat Productions🐾🐾🐾 Spring fever has put a stop to creativity- for now. We need a break. Still Runnin' Down a Dream

"Runnin' Down A Dream"


It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees went by, me and Del were singin'
Little runaway
I was flyin'

Yeah, runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

I felt so good, like anything was possible
Hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days the rain was unstoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine

Yeah, runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

I rolled on, the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waitin' down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine

I'm runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
Yeah, I'm runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
I'm runnin' down a dream

TOM PETTY - RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM

BAT TUB

Bat, bathing in the moonlight, at midnight, in the dark, in the woods, alone. 

My daughter hijacked my painting; no stars, no flowers, no more cats, and no ghosts. Maybe, Halloween? She named it Bat Tub.




“The moon can never breathe, but it can take our breath away with the beauty of its cold, arid orb.” 

― Munia Khan




"Believe nothing you hear and half of what you see."

LOVE - HAPPY CATURDAY ❤️♥️🐾🐾🐾🐾❤️♥️

"Love" HAPPY CATURDAY❤️♥️🐾🐾🐾❤️♥️ for the March 26th Theme - "Favorites" 

Maggie and Bat, an archived photo of the two little rascals showing their brotherly/sisterly love.

In 1982 we married. I wanted the long veil that Princess Diana wore on her wedding day in 1981 and this song for our wedding. I didn't get either one. I gave the John Lennon record to my dad to give the DJ, unfortunately: he left it on the back dash of the car and warped. Not a purrfect wedding, a lot of things went wrong that day. After all these years, we are still married.


❤️♥️ LOVE ❤️♥️

Love is real, real is love

Love is feeling, feeling love

Love is wanting to be loved




Love is touch, touch is love

Love is reaching, reaching love

Love is asking to be loved




Love is you

You and me

Love is knowing

we can be




Love is free, free is love

Love is living, living love

Love is needing to be loved






LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE

❤️LOVE ❤️- JOHN LENNON 

I'M SO TIRED

I'm so tired! I haven't slept a wink. I think a little catnap might help give me back a little peace of mind : )☺️♥️❤️🐾🐾❤️♥️🐱

I'm so tired

I haven't slept a wink

I'm so tired

My mind is on the blink

I wonder, should I get up and fix myself a drink?

No, no, no

I'm so tired

I don't know what to do

I'm so tired

My mind is set on you

I wonder should I call you

But I know what you would do

You'd say I'm putting you on

But it's no joke

It's doing me harm

You know I can't sleep

I can't stop my brain

You know it's three weeks

I'm going insane

You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind

- BEATLES - I'M SO TIRED

BATMAN RETURNS - BATMAN HAS NO LIMITS

BATMAN HAS NO LIMITS

“Sometimes the truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”

HAPPY CATURDAY FOR FEBRUARY26TH/22 THEME - CATTAILS

A COUNTRY ESCAPE ♥️

A COUNTRY ESCAPE

Happy am I when I slip into bed-
I dream of a pastoral place,
A country escape,
And find heaven on earth

There’s a cottage @ Rideau Ferry, it’s name - “Heaven on Earth” and I think it is😇

This lovely mixed media painting is a treasure I found on one of my shopping trips, unfortunately, the artist didn’t sign their name to the artwork.

TO CATCH A GHOST

Do Cats See Ghosts? 

Well, I think they do.

Bat and Maggies' New Year's Resolution: To Catch A Ghost and bring it to me. Be it, mouse, bird, bat, or human. : ) 

ANY FRIENDLY GHOST WILL DO, CASPER, GUS, OR MAYBE EVEN THE GHOST OF MR. CHICKEN : ) 🐾🐾.                🐾




👀Remember, these cats have Supernatural Spooktacular Senses: they can hunt anything down, even ghosts!




FOR JANUARY HAPPY CATURDAY THEME: YOUR CATS NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION




HAPPY CATURDAY ❤️🐾🐾          🐾  



Have you seen this movie?

THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN 

FORGET-ME-NOT - COTTAGE BY THE SEA

TWO DOVES, A CAT, AND MY SON, LOL.
"OUR HOUSE, THEY SAY; AND MINE, THE CAT DECLARES" AND MINE, SAID; MY SON THIS MORNING WHEN I SENT HIM A PICTURE OF THE COMPLETED OIL PAINTING OF THE COTTAGE BY THE SEA - FORGET-ME-NOT.

I finally decided to place the two doves on the cottage roof and a little white cat in the garden. 
On to my next painting. I'm practicing "Hygge; bringing in a little bit of Danish culture into my life and sharing with people that seek that same dreamy place in their life.

MY HOUSE, I SAY 


~ ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 1850-1894


"My house, I say. But hark to the sunny doves 
That make my roof the arena of their loves, 
That gyre about the gable all day long 
And fill the chimneys with their murmurous song: 
Our house, they say; and mine, the cat declares 
And spreads his golden fleece upon the chairs; 
And mine the dog, and rises stiff with wrath 
If any alien foot profane the path. 
So, too, the buck that trimmed my terraces, 
Our whilom gardener, called the garden his;
Who now, deposed, surveys my plain abode 
And his late kingdom, only from the road."

MY HOUSE, I SAY...COTTAGE BY THE SEA ~ FORGET-ME-NOT COTTAGE ( WIP/2 )

Yes, this could be my house and mine, said my husband when he looked at my painting this morning. It's still a WIP. I need to finish painting the grass along the path, maybe a couple of doves on the roof and a cat, just like Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about in the poem "My House, I Say."

The Forget- Me- Nots and Tansy are flowers we collected on our trip down east. THE INN AT WHALE COVE COTTAGES, GRAND MANAN ISLAND, NEW BRUNSWICK is a place that will always be dear to me and M. We had such a great time there and, Laura, the Inn Keeper at Whale Cove Cottages, made it extra special for us. This painting, inspired by that special place we stayed at one cold October month in 2017. One day, we shall go back!

MY HOUSE, I SAY 
~ ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 1850-1894


"My house, I say. But hark to the sunny doves  

That make my roof the arena of their loves,  

That gyre about the gable all day long  

And fill the chimneys with their murmurous song:  

Our house, they say; and mine, the cat declares  

And spreads his golden fleece upon the chairs;  

And mine the dog, and rises stiff with wrath  

If any alien foot profane the path.  

So, too, the buck that trimmed my terraces,  

Our whilom gardener, called the garden his;

Who now, deposed, surveys my plain abode  

And his late kingdom, only from the road."

"What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?"💡 HAPPY CATURDAY!🐱‰🐾

Happy Caturday Theme for October 17th /2020 

~ "CATPHABET ~Your cat's name & persuade your cat to pose for a photo with an object that starts with the same letter."

"This year I'm going to be Batman, said Bat"! 

And I'm going to be The Cat of Monte Cristo, said Maggie! 

“Ah, lips that say one thing, while the heart thinks another,” 
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

"Oh, how I wish I could fly like the Bats on the Clock, said Bat!"

Combine the two, cats and a pandemic and, what have you got? Infinite time to think! 

Ah, captivity, house arrest, hours spent in barred boundaries between four walls, and if you are lucky, a garden to soak in the sun while the weather is still warm although now a little too chilly. Nothing like being an outdoor cat! I miss having no boundaries, so what do we do?

Well, we join groups, cat lovers group, art group, writing group, music group, garden group, you find yourself pretty much forget you're living in a pandemic, almost. I still miss visiting family, thrifting, shopping, movies, and eating out. So for the time being this will help some.


THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

“What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?"

"Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced — from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination.” 

― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo

Until life returns to normal keep focus on the treasures at hand. Stay safe♥️

SEPTEMBER WOODS

SEPTEMBER WOODS

A glory of gold
And russet and grey,
The tree-tops old
Glow in the day;
And, one by one,
The dry leaves fall,
And the Autumn sun
Smiles on them all.


Where all is still
The rabbits play,
And pheasants fill
Each woodland way;
And, one by one,
The dry leaves fall,
While the Autumn sun
Smiles on them all.

 ~ Sunlight and Shade

ONLY THE LONELY 🌱

'Only the Lonely' Nicotiana Sylvestris, White Shooting Stars or Woodland Tobacco.

It was the only Nicotiana Slyvestris plant to grow in the compost garden, and I left it alone to grow next to the Pumpkin Patch.
Now that the Pumpkin Patch is gone, Only the Lonely is truly alone. 

It's beautiful, candelabra-like clusters of tubular luminous white blossoms still intoxicate the evening autumn air with a rich Jasmine-like perfume.
In the past, when the white shooting stars of the Nicotiana Sylvestris bloomed in our summer garden at the front of the house where we could see and smell its beautiful scent, we would see hummingbird moths come around twilight to sip from the tiny trumpets. But this year, the trees have taken over the sun-loving garden, and only now are the self-sown seeds from the nicotiana of last summer starting to grow, a little too late, I'm afraid. So, come early spring next year, I must remember not to forget 'Only the Lonely' and plant some of its seeds indoors. This way, I will find it a better place to grow and watch its miniature chandeliers light up under the moonlight, maybe even catch a glimpse of a little fairy in the secret garden flitting here and there in the flowers of the 'Woodland Tobacco.'

'Where at dusk the dumb white nicotine awakes and utters her fragrance in a garden sleeping.' ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

When Sweet Autumn Comes ⋆

Earthly stars climb above and beneath the fading flowery garden of summer, their heavenly perfume trailing on the cool evening breeze.

Autumn has arrived, and the sweet autumn clematis I planted in early spring has now come into full bloom: its vine, covered in delicate starry white flowers whimsically entwined into a heart, I suppose it must love where it lives.

FRIED PUMPKIN BLOSSOMS 🎃🎃🎃🌼🌼🌼

Last night's frost killed our pumpkin patch.

Only spooky white ghosts peeked from beneath the black weepy leaves of the pumpkin patch, no Atlantic Orange, no Fairytales.

However, there were lots of beautiful orange pumpkin blossoms left that managed to survive, so I made Fried Pumpkin Blossoms.

RECIPE HERE: MAMA'S FRIED PUMPKIN BLOSSOMS

AND HOW TO FREEZE AND FRY:

FRESH PUMPKIN BLOSSOMS WITH INSTRUCTIONS VIDEO OF FREEZING & FRYING FROM LYLE HORNER'S KITCHEN 

 

SIXTY SECONDS TO WHAT? POOF, OUT LIKE A LIGHT! 💤 HAPPY CATURDAY! THE FELINE ART OF ZEN 🐱🐾🐾🐾

September 19th theme ~ The Feline art of Zen

SIXTY SECONDS TO WHAT? POOF, OUT LIKE A LIGHT! 💤

A hypnotic melody, say like, The El Indio Theme with music box included, sleep comes in seconds. At least it did for Bat.

Cats love art, cats love music, and cats love to sleep.
They sure know how to seize the moment. 

"Every second is of infinite value."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

For A Few Dollars More Soundtrack ~ El Indio Theme ( expanded)

By The Sea 🐚

Painting of the day by Gilles Leroux

                             By The Sea  🐚

When I bought this beautiful seascape painted on a conk, Ganoderma applanatum, I intended to paint over it: only, I fell in love with it.

I had never thought of using conks as a canvas for painting until I was introduced to them by my mother-in-law. I remember one, in particular, she had painted with a forest scene. It was two conks attached by a stick which she cleverly transformed into a fallen tree lying across a stream connecting the two sides of the forest floor. Her husband skillfully created a mama raccoon and her two babies out of Teasle seed and placed them on the log crossing the stream below. I thought it was such a genius idea creating a 3 - d painting from quirky fungi: ever since then, I have been on the lookout for one just like it.

When I do get the opportunity to work on one of these lovely fungi, I love to smell their heady fragrance when I use my wood-burning pen in creating the design: Autumn enters the room, and its as if I'm still out in the woods, walking on musty fallen leaves, collecting fungi.




If you haven't tried painting on a conk, maybe, now is the time to try. Take an autumn walk, collect a few shelf mushrooms, and bring back a little of fall into your home.

The conk with the beautiful sea shall remain in its original embodiment, and I will take another walk into the woods, maybe get lucky and find the one.




"By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea.

You and me, you and me, oh how happy will be.

I like to be beside, beside, beside the sea,

beside the seaside with you."




Some Like It Hot (1959) M M IN BEACH SCENE

In England 🇬🇧

It was in the summer of 1977, the year of HRH Queen's Silver Jubilee, and Queen was playing in London the night we arrived in England.
We never bothered with reserving a room at a hotel, and by the end of the evening, we still had not found an affordable place to sleep.
Finding something to eat tho, was less of a challenge: Fish and Chips wrapped in newsprint was perfect for our very first meal in the UK, and the unexpected extra that came with the dinner helped us find a place to sleep: under the park bench of where we earlier sat and ate our meal.
What we didn't expect was on company joining us that evening.
A young fellow who had attended the Queen concert earlier that night had missed the last train home and asked if we could share one of our sleeping bags with him: of course, we girls obliged.
Strangely, in the wee morning hours, he was gone.
England, already, was being spooky.


The following night we arrived in Scarborough, again with no reservations. It wasn't too long before someone spotted our Canadian flags on our backpacks, two fellows from a neighboring karate school who graciously offered us a room for the night but, that didn't turn out too well when their coach walked in with the rest of the class and canceled our room. So we resumed our search. Walking past a nightclub closing its doors for the night, Grace Jones singing La Vie En Rose drifting in the night air, I felt a hand pat my backpack: it was a policeman. We had finally found a place for the night, the local police station. They felt sorry for us Canadians and put us up for the night.
The morning came early with a hot cup of coffee; I took one last look into the large glass mirror in the room before heading out, paused, and then wondered. Naw!


Side notes:
I love keeping old things in small, glass cases reminding me of the past. I bought this pin of the Union Jack when I was in England and pinned it to what I believe to be a Royal Navy WW1 Petty Officers Cloth Bullion Cap Badge. Might be British or Canadian, either one, I love the fact that I now own one.


And this song was playing all over the airwaves in the late seventies. It always takes me back to the night we spent in Scarborough, England, the time of The Queen's Jubilee, and the room with a two-way mirror? lol


Grace Jones classic '77 track 

"Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose" Edith Piaf